174 SCIENCE SKETCHES. 
fishes mounted by Poey himself in the earlier days 
of his professorship. The number of these is not 
great, nor have many additions been made during 
the last twenty years. Most of the types of the 
new species described by Professor Poey have 
been, after being fully studied by him and repre- 
sented in life-size drawings, sent to the United 
States National Museum, to the Museum of Com- 
parative Zodlogy, or to the Museum at Madrid. 
Duplicates have been rarely retained in Havana, 
the cost of keeping up a permanent collection be- 
ing too great. Asa result, Professor Poey’s work 
has suffered from lack of means of comparing 
specimens taken at different times. There is no 
zodlogical laboratory in Cuba except the private 
study of Professor Poey; and here, for want of 
room and for other reasons, drawings have, to a 
great extent, taken the place of specimens. 
The publication of the observations of Professor 
Poey on the animals of Cuba was begun in 1851, 
in a series of papers entitled ‘‘ Memorias sobre la 
Historia Natural de la Isla de Cuba.” These 
papers were issued at intervals from 1851 to 1860, 
and together form two octavo volumes of about 
450 pages each. The first volume contains chiefly 
descriptions of mollusks and insects. The second 
volume is devoted mainly to the fishes. As is natu- 
ral in the exploration of a new field, these volumes 
are largely occupied with the description of new 
species. They give evidence of the disadvantages 
arising from solitary work, without the aid of the 
association and criticism of others, and without the 
broader knowledge of the relations of groups which 
